What If Our Health Care Is Not Enough?

As a nation, we’re over medicated but under treated. A staggering amount of Americans are on prescription drugs. Nearly 60% – that’s 3 out of every 5 American adults – are taking a prescription drug. [1]

Over Medicated and Under Treated

We have all been indoctrinated that when we speak to an individual with M.D. after their name we hold them in the highest regard and take what they say as gospel. That does not mean that the years of training and experience that a doctor has should be questioned, but the methodology of prescribing a pill for every ill is something with which I take issue.

Most people do not want to question their doctor when they are being treated. We generally place the doctor as all-knowing about the condition we are seeing them for – even though they have spent about 10-15 minutes (if you’re lucky) talking to us. The issue with conventional medicine is that doctors have very little time to delve into what is causing out health issues and come up with a individual plan of treatment. What most of us don’t realize, understand or simply forgotten is we are all unique. We’re biochemically individual. Looking at overall lifestyle, nutrition, exercise and environmental factors are the key factors in determining what type of “treatment” needs to be implemented. Jumping right to a prescription as the first and best option leaves little for changes in lifestyle that can more naturally heal the body. Plus, how will you know if the lifestyle changes reverse or mitigate the symptoms if we are masking them with a pill?

Recently I was diagnosed with bronchitis, my doctor immediately wanted to prescribe cough syrup with codeine, cough suppressing prescription pills and prescription antibiotics (“7 day – Z-pack”). This is what drives me crazy! My doctor wanted to prescribe all these chemicals without confirming that I had a bacterial infection (viral infection is not treatable by antibiotics). I had already been using natural solutions prior to seeing my doctor and my symptoms were already subsiding. I used essential oils several ways, ingesting them, rubbing them on my forehead and back of neck and diffusing them. By drinking plenty of water, eating right, getting plenty of rest – all natural solutions – and my body was able to repair itself “naturally” without shoveling chemicals born in some man-made lab down my throat.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the doctors I work with and hold them in great regard. But they are not able to delve deeply into each of our issues as they have to see a roster of patients and abide by insurance rules that will pay for their services. That’s why the “prescription plan” model works as the basis for most Western conventionally-trained medical care providers.

This model isn’t what I call a health care system. This is a disease management system – and it’s not working for most of us. If the only response to a patient’s symptom is a pill or surgery, then we fall short of health care. What would happen if instead of over prescribing meds for our current issue/condition we took a closer look at each of our bio-individuality? By using nutrition, exercise and lifestyle factors a plan of “preventative measures” can be created. These are the key factors in determining what type of “treatment” we need to implement. If we jump straight to popping pills we will never know if changing our lifestyle would reverse or mitigate the symptoms we are having. Most doctors prescribe the same medications for us because a pharmaceutical rep shows them some statistics and research (both of which were probably paid for by the pharmaceutical company) for the drug they are peddling that week. But let’s not forget “we are all unique.” Our treatment should be based on our own personal uniqueness. One pill does not fit everyone with the same symptoms.

The lack of natural treatments (changes to lifestyle, diet, quality natural supplements, essential oils) leads to the over-medicated population that has become reliant on pharmaceuticals for “health care.” If we would try the least invasive, least chemical solutions, natural approaches to improvement of symptoms and preventive measures for future illness, the cost of health care in the U.S. would decline dramatically. My biggest fear is the pharmaceutical industry will continue to push its agenda forward and keep our medical practitioners, who are overworked and severely lacking in time to adequately evaluate us as patients, “educated” on the wonders of their drugs.

It’s time for all of us to speak up and advocate for ourselves with physicians, insurance companies and our legislators and say that our health care system is not enough. Let’s band together and reverse the trend of disease care management and implement a more natural approach to health care.

Just think of the countless dollars that could be saved if we reversed the pharmaceutical trend and referrals to specialists that continue to skyrocket insurance premiums. We have the power to heal ourselves with simple lifestyle changes that cost very little compared to the enormity of the current health care costs.